Updated 10:05 pm, Sunday, April 1, 2012

“This is the perfect collision of two fundamental values of our university," said Vincent, UT-Austin's vice president for diversity and community engagement, citing a commitment both to free speech and to the need for respect and civility.

What we all ended up learning is open to debate.

The controversy erupted over a cartoon describing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager shot and killed in Florida, as a “colored boy.” The cartoon was meant to lambaste the media for painting his death as a black vs. white issue, but its approach and wordingmade it a news item itself.

Boy carted off in ambulance after S.A. shooting as relatives scream in anguishSan Antonio Express-News

The newspaper's editorial board apologized, promising steps including a forum to “raise consciousness of race and diversity both at the Texan and on campus.” The cartoonist, Stephanie Eisner of The Woodlands, also apologized and no longer works for the Texan.

Of note: Eisner has been quoted before in the Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News, when Austin bureau intern Kolten Parker talked to UT students about the use of affirmative action in admissions. She was for it.

Gawker, which helped fuel the controversy by calling the cartoon the “most racist” about the Martin case, credited Texan editors for “covering the whole uproar as the news that it is” rather than pretending it didn't happen.

But in noting that Eisner is no longer working for the Texan, some comments on the Texan's website questioned why the editorial board remains in place after allowing the cartoon to run.

Some found the board's apology heartening. Others say it came at the expense of freedom of speech.

Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson — removed from the fray — noted that the Texan has a fine reputation but is still a college newspaper. And he noted that professional publications have gone through their own storms, citing as just one example a New Yorker cartoon cover portraying the Obamas as fist-bumping terrorists.

“Those sorts of things always raise controversy, and the question is, is this satirical political commentary that makes a valuable point,” he said, “or is it just stupid?”

Meanwhile, on the political front

It was the stuff of some politicians' dreams — until it wasn't. Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and Rep. Sarah Davis, R-West University Place, were at Houston executive Fred Zeidman's River Oaks home for a fundraiser when they saw a television reporter outside. The two lawmakers went out with Zeidman to accommodate the expected interview request — only to return a few minutes later, mainly uninterviewed. It seems the reporter was drawn to the neighborhood not by the pull of political power but by an incident involving a neighborhood pet. The reporter's question (as recalled by Zeidman): “How do you feel about the shooting of the dog?” The lawmakers, as they say on the House floor, were not advised.

And then there's Perry's style

One Democratic lawmaker sensed a difference in GOP Gov. Rick Perry's style at last week's unveiling of the Tejano monument on the Capitol grounds, saying Perry “worked the line” of lawmakers in the audience. While Perry's known for hand-shaking and small-talking in a crowd, the lawmaker said that this was different from past experience, where Perry “would say hi, but he wouldn't go out of his way.” Is it part of Perry's effort to try to work himself back from his disastrous presidential run? Not so, says spokeswoman Lucy Nashed, “The governor is the same as he's always been. He has always appreciated the opportunity to meet Texans and lawmakers at his public events — especially a historic one like this that was the culmination of multiple lawmakers' efforts and several years of work, and an event he is very proud to be part of.”